Pages

Monday, February 24, 2020

She was the type of person who turned heads when she entered a room. She had a sweet look about her, approachable, you know. Her shiny dark hair grazed her shoulders and the curly ends bounced when she turned her head.

Although it was a somber occasion for which we were all gathered, she had the unique ability to soften the tenseness in the room as well as the face of every person she interacted with.

I was seated in the back, an observer. Her voice was soft and melodic. I watched and listened as she made her way, stopping to say hello to those she knew, introducing herself to those she was meeting for the first time. I saw that each person leaned in towards her when she spoke and I thought about her unique ability to persuade such consideration.

She took her rightful place at the front, her back to me now, I felt her stillness as she quietly listened.

I had the opportunity to finally and properly meet her the next day. It was a brisk wintery day. She had been out for a walk. When she came in, she was breathless and her face was rosy.

As she shed her coat, scarf and hat, she called out greetings to everyone.

She made her way over to me.

She didn't ask my name, but I must have seemed familiar to her.

"Hi," she said, with a smile.

She told me that she had been on a treasure hunt on the path through the wooded area out back.
Standing in front of me now, her arms were at her side, her hands were tightly clutched.
"I found two of these," she said with a giggle.
She raised both hands out towards me and slowly opened each one.
"Aren't they beautiful," she asked?

"This one is special, it's my favorite and I would like you to have it." she said.

She placed an oddly shaped stone in my palm. It felt icy cold in my hand.
I thanked her and told her I would always keep and treasure this treasure she gave me.
She smiled when I said that.

It was now time for me to leave. I had a long ride ahead of me. I said my goodbyes, and gave her a little hug.

As I walked out to the car with my hands in my pockets I knew I would never see her again. I squeezed the cold stone tightly and it gave a bit of relief to my aging joints and comfort from a sad weekend.

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Boy, January was a long month. The winter weather here in Barnegat, New Jersey is quite dreary. So far this year we have not had any snow or arctic cold blasts. The temperatures have been averaging in the high 40's and 50's with quite a few gray and rainy days. As I said dreary.

What we've been up to.

I helped Ross create a YouTube channel. It's called "Ross' Snippets and Bits". He has recorded two episodes so far and the response has been favorable.
I would describe the content as a reminiscence journey.

We both upgraded our iPhones to the 11's. Our old phones were 7's. The new phones were a little challenging to get used to because navigating around them is now all done via touch screen. The physical home button has been replaced with swiping motions. Also the fingerprint ID was replaced with facial recognition.

Oh, by the way, though, you can still make and receive phones calls with the phone 😀

I have been doing a lot of driving lately. As someone who was used to being the chauffeured, and not the chauffeur, I have become much more appreciative of what it takes to get behind the wheel.I consider myself to be a conservative driver. By that I mean I obey the rules of the road. And by that I mean I drive the speed limit. I have discovered that most people don't. I find cars either whizzing by me or on my tail. It's as if they are challenging me to a race or strongly urging me to get out of the way.

We frequently travel on a road which is a two lane highway. The speed limit is 55 MPH.

There usually is not a lot of traffic on this road, but because it is a two-laner, whatever traffic there is tends to become parades of clumps of perhaps a dozen cars, each one behind the other. Although, there are sections of the road where no passing is permitted, a lot of the road does permit alternate lane passing.

As I previously mentioned, I obey the speed limit, especially on this road. That means on the sections where no passing is permitted, I tend to have a string of cars behind me.
A lot of the time, the car directly behind me, is up on my tail, anxiously waiting to break away as soon as the passing zone comes up.

I wonder where that person going in such a hurry? I wonder how much time he or she saved by passing me so they can speed up to 10 or 15 miles above the speed limit? I wonder if they will appreciate that precious time they have saved. I hope they will spend it wisely.

I am totally amused, though when that person passes me, speeds up, comes to a traffic light, has to stop, and finds me right behind them. 😈